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Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

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Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#141

Post by prox »

pj_mukh wrote: post #106
osamagirl69 wrote: post #26

There is some interesting discussion in the analysis portion of the paper that resonated deeply with me. >However, the fact that participants underestimated the potential task motivation during the thinking period may indicate that people avoid thinking not because it is aversive but because it is expected to be aversive. >Such an inaccurate expectation may lead people to unnecessarily avoid spending time thinking in…

What are other good mobile strategies? I need my phone to keep an eye on some work stuff + elderly parents on WhatsApp, but clearly parts of the phone are neurologically optimized to keep me distracted (and it works!) So what are other good ways to fight this?

If you have something like donotdisturb on your device, use it and make exceptions for the really important.

I used to think the phone was important, but my phone has been off for 6 months now. Needed to inform work and people but everyone is fine with it now. Most comms are email now. If there is something critical there is an always on device that alerts me.

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#142

Post by pj_mukh »

exitb wrote: post #118
pj_mukh wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are other good mobile strategies? I need my phone to keep an eye on some work stuff + elderly parents on WhatsApp, but clearly parts of the phone are neurologically optimized to keep me distracted (and it works!) So what are other good ways to fight this?

Disable automatic suggestions in your web browser when you only just focused the address bar. The only suggestions that may appear, should be contextual to what you started to type.

Ooo this is a new good one, I had not heard off before! Thanks

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#144

Post by vjk800 »

I've played with the idea that the internet should just have mandatory closing hours. Every day at 20:00 the ISPs would just stop routing traffic except maybe to a handful of critical services.

In Scandinavia we have a long history of limiting services (for example, sales of alcohol) for the collective benefit. Why not rekindle these type of policies?

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#145

Post by corobo »

vjk800 wrote: post #144

I've played with the idea that the internet should just have mandatory closing hours. Every day at 20:00 the ISPs would just stop routing traffic except maybe to a handful of critical services. In Scandinavia we have a long history of limiting services (for example, sales of alcohol) for the collective benefit. Why not rekindle these type of policies?

Which timezone?

> Why not rekindle these type of policies?

Giving any government that much power right now is probably not the greatest move. Personally I think any type of restriction like this is the government overstepping.

You're allowed to turn your personal router off whenever you want. They can't stop you. Don't take peoples freedom away because you can't put down the phone.

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#146

Post by corobo »

liberia wrote: post #34
xcambar wrote: post #19

As I grew older, there are certain things I have learned to enjoy more, such as slowness, inaction, loneliness, boredom. Boredom is typically the most controversial, so the reason here is that boredom first allows for moments you want out of, but also there's more: It expands the range of comfort zone of emotions and sets the ground floor of your emotions low enough that you can actually welcome more experiences as r…

Well as a hacker, boredom is the enemy and we’re always at war with boredom. For a hacker, boredom is a form of death.

I gotta disagree here. Boredom is where all my ideas come from. Boredom is the catalyst to wondering how Xyz works.

Boredom is taking an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem, and then realising you can put a front end on that and do it as a service for people who don't have that skillset.

No boredom, no hacking.

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#147

Post by amberglow »

xcambar wrote: post #19

As I grew older, there are certain things I have learned to enjoy more, such as slowness, inaction, loneliness, boredom. Boredom is typically the most controversial, so the reason here is that boredom first allows for moments you want out of, but also there's more: It expands the range of comfort zone of emotions and sets the ground floor of your emotions low enough that you can actually welcome more experiences as r…

There are different kinds of boredom -- one where you can think of something on your own, other where you are distracted constantly or an opposite, concentrated on something boring. First allow you to relax, recuperate, plan, other one doesn't seem to be constructive to me.

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#148

Post by nicbou »

syntheweave wrote: post #130
abhaynayar wrote: post #127

I have stopped listening to audiobooks while I'm out for a walk. At first, audiobooks seemed like such an efficient use of time. But after finishing a couple of audiobooks on my walks, I felt that my brain and my ears always yearned for not listening to audiobooks and instead just wanted to enjoy the walk itself. Now I just walk. If I'm not feeling that well, I do put on some music for a while, but never an audiobook…

I took a sketchbook on my walk today. I did have my phone and used it some, but drawing things from life, with traditional materials, is a nice way to slow down and engage with the immediate world. Especially since with walking routes, it's usually the same things every day, so while you might think "I've seen this before", once you try to draw it and capture everything you can, it's like you haven't seen it at all.

Sketching forces you to pay attention. It's a very deliberate thing.

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#149

Post by nicbou »

abhaynayar wrote: post #127

I have stopped listening to audiobooks while I'm out for a walk. At first, audiobooks seemed like such an efficient use of time. But after finishing a couple of audiobooks on my walks, I felt that my brain and my ears always yearned for not listening to audiobooks and instead just wanted to enjoy the walk itself. Now I just walk. If I'm not feeling that well, I do put on some music for a while, but never an audiobook…

My walks got a lot better when I started looking up birds and plants. Now green spaces aren't just a nice background, but a rich, immersive world.

Even in the city, it's fun to watch and listen. There's a ton going on, and you rob yourself of that experience when you have something playing over it.

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#150

Post by nicbou »

bamboozled wrote: post #51

Has anyone experimented with having a "dumb phone" and taking that with them just in-case people need to contact them or for emergencies? Lately, I've had a few times when I accidentally left my phone at home and after an hour or so realized how much fun I've had without it.

I depend on my phone as a tool. Alarms, calendar, Google Pay and so on.

Instead I worked really hard to suppress the loud parts. Notification control, ad blocker rules, very few apps, and so on.

I'd say it works well enough.

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